2007-06-01 18:57:16 · 7 answers · asked by Rika 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
A lot of nursery rhymes and children's stories started out as tales for adults, but by the 19th-century, they had been collected in children's anthologies:
---"Humpty Dumpty" refers to King Richard III of England
---"Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" is a protest against an import tax imposed in England in 1275
---The fine lady in "Ride a Cockhorse to Banbury Cross" is Elizabeth I of England
---"The Skye Boat Song" refers to the flight of Bonnie Prince Charles after the Jacobite Rebellion in 1746
Similarly, the Grimm Brothers anthologized some very grim German folk tales, and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" started out as a story written by Robert Southey in 1837 protesting English poor laws. Of course, an old beggar woman originally had an encounter with the three bears rather than a little girl named Goldilocks. Up to a point, children enjoy scary stories, and until the 19th-century, children's literature as a separate genre really didn't exist.
2007-06-01 19:27:40 · answer #1 · answered by Ellie Evans-Thyme 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
There are a couple of different ways of answering that question. The first is to consider that the contemporary version of what a "child" is is fairly new. Since the 50s, we have become hyper aware of how children might react to art, music, and culture. There once was a time that a child was much more familiar with death than today's child was so it makes sense that the music would be a way of coping or naming it.
The second is to consider how terrifying an infant is because of their fragility. I think that's why Rock A bye baby is so weirdly scary and violent. Some cultures believe it's bad to say a baby is cute because they think they'll curse the baby. Perhaps this lullaby imagines the worse to protect a baby from the worst.
2007-06-02 02:05:10 · answer #2 · answered by Chica71 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hello,
Freedom of speech and of the press as we are familiar with today were unkown in 16th, 17th and 18th century England when these nursery rhyme songs were written. They were a way of showing, teaching and /or lampooning the political establishment of those times and all of its folly, corruption, horrors and injustice whilst keeping a low profile and disguising these things in children's verse, somewhat like songs of the 60's teaching about the benefits of drugs, protest against the government and so on!
Regards,
Michael Kelly
2007-06-02 02:25:27 · answer #3 · answered by Michael Kelly 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Do you suppose they were intended as life lessons? Quick ways of transferring important knowledge? Most people were illiterate so knowledge had to be transferred verbally...Just an idea...
2007-06-02 02:44:43 · answer #4 · answered by CEO&LittleLeagueMom 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
no one thought they were scary for 200 years, till you came along. i don't ever remember being afraid when i was a kid,when i heard them. are people so insecure that nursery rymes frighten them?
oh i know,you're one of those politically correct people,aren't you. oh well, it takes all kinds.or can't i say that anymore?
2007-06-02 02:14:28 · answer #5 · answered by gen. patton 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Children are morbid little people They actually made them up them self at the time it was happening
2007-06-02 02:05:37 · answer #6 · answered by freddy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Life it tough, the sooner kids find out the better.
2007-06-02 02:03:01 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋